Once the Sun Sets
by rosegalaxy
Summary: Mikasa only wants to protect Eren, but Eren thinks of her as annoying. He is interested in something else- a short, raven-haired captain. And even more so, to leave the cage and see the world. Armin also cries a lot over his dead grandfather.


Shiganshina District – Year 845

The boy loved the night. To Eren, the night was the only thing that protected him fully, enveloping him in a mask of darkness and security. The pitch black was welcomed, for it brought him out of his world of terror. The year was 845 when tragedy struck- death, chaos, all the things that night shunned.

In his last moments in that horrid city that served as bait, the boy got a taste of his dream. His dream of being let out of the cage that so many were born and raised in, dying a death without seeing the outside once. His dream of going outside the walls.

But alas, his mother frowned at this dream. Her last moments were spent arguing with him, watching him run, as always, angry at her for not submitting to his every whim. He ran away, and she watched him with the same wistfulness in her gaze that he demonstrated just moments later, her legs crushed under a rooftop.

 _"There are titans inside the walls, aren't there?"_ She would say desperately. To her horror, this question was confirmed in the state of a loud resound. A titan stood there, next to _her_ house in _her_ town where she had resided for so many years. _"Run, you idiot! You have to survive!"_

 _"I'm going to get you out!"_

 _"I wish you would listen to me, just once!"_ And thus, Carla Jeager's last moments were spent arguing with her son for an incomprehensible reason. Her last moments were spent, tears pouring down her face, watching her son and daughter escape, as a titan grasped her. She turned, just to see her captor's face just once before death

But what was there was not what she expected. In the stead of a meaningless, idiotic stare, there stood familiar eyes. Eyes of loathing and emotion. The titan seemed to be _smiling_ at her, as if it took pride and happiness in the thought of her death. This was the vengeful face of Dina- but no, she had died long ago, hadn't she?

This was just another mindless being, once a person. The crack came swiftly, granting her eternal peace with the lulling notion that her beloveds were safe.

This peace, however, was not granted to her son. Instead, he was given a new fervor to hate the titans with. He watched, shocked, as blood- no, not just blood, the blood of his _mother_ poured out of this titan's mouth.

A silent vow leaked out of Eren's mouth that he would someday kill all of these beings that brought an end to night. He wasn't ignorant- he knew she was gone. His mother was gone, and she was never coming back.

Beside him, his sister had similar thoughts running through her head. In his mother's stead, she would always be by his side. She would protect him, and never let another hand on him. As her mouth gaped and promises spilled out of it, heard by no one, _she_ was powered by the agreement that he would wander nowhere without her.

A guardian angel of sorts, she watched over him. She was there, the next day, when he refused to eat. As he argued with a nonexistent soul, she shoved food into his mouth, pouring her soul into him bit by bit, hoping that in her stead he could be revived and grow great.

She was there, two years later, when he announced that he was going to join the army. This did not come as a surprise- these very words were his last words with meaning to his mother, and the boy did not intend to let them fall flat. Just like her silent pact, this was his.

She watched in vain as her only other friend was left with nothing just as she had been years back into what seemed a past that held no meaning anymore. She watched as Armin's grandfather was sent away, and never returned, the only keepsake a measly straw hat.

Mikasa was there for her friends, _'I have to be strong'_. This was the world the girl saw, her motivation for life being her vow and memories of death.

"Mikasa," Eren started one day. "Why do you keep following me? I don't need your help." By this time, Mikasa was seething, but her resolve would not be shattered from the outside. "I'm not a baby!" He continued. This is what snapped her.

"You don't _understand_ , Eren! You would _die_ without me, I **_will protect you_**!" Mikasa was desperate to prove herself. All she could see in him was potential death, the end of all things she cared for.


End file.
